The government as God
How ironic that Chinese officials should label the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) a “blasphemy.”
Officially, China is an atheist state, although a certain amount of religious worship is tolerated in -government--controlled “patriotic churches.”
These patriotic churches must register with the government and allow all decisions — including those regarding the nomination of clergy such as bishops — to be made under the control of the central government.
However, since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) takeover in 1949, China has officially been an atheist state, and rather hostile toward all religion in general. The idea of the Chinese government granting special visas to missionaries, as is the case in the Republic of Taiwan, is unthinkable.
The CCP government is highly suspicious and hostile toward all religions, irrespective of their provenance. It views traditional Chinese religion as backward and a hindrance to the development of socialist mores. It also views Western religions, such as Christianity, as tools of “oppressive colonialism” and remnants of foreign domination.
Now that its Western regions with large Muslim populations — the Uighurs, for example — have become “restive” and volatile, China has applied its bellicose and paranoid policies to these areas.
The same is true of Tibet. Moreover, in these areas, Chinese are using an ancient tactic — one that dates back to ancient Assyria. The Chinese are flooding these regions with a huge influx of Han Chinese with the aim of totally assimilating — and thus obliterating — the smaller, local ethnic groups. They will continue to do this until no trace is left of Tibetan or Uighur culture.
It is a form of genocide without the usual accompanying mass murder.
Given that China is officially atheist, it is quite ironic that the government’s propagandists should employ the term “blasphemy.”
This is a sure indication of how flustered, shocked and upset they must be after hearing the peace prize news.
The term “blasphemy” denotes a contemptuous, profane, disrespectful act, utterance, or writing that concerns God or a religious entity.
Blasphemy is an impious act or utterance concerning God or some sacred entity.
So why would the Chinese government’s propagandists employ the term “blasphemy” at all, when officially it insists that there is no God?
After all, how can there be blasphemy when there is no God?
They do so for the same reason that China continually spews its bilge that it has the “sacred” duty to “reunify” the “renegade province” of Taiwan with the “motherland.” In an officially atheist country such as China, the government seeks to usurp the place of God.
The government seeks to set itself up as God. This form of “auto-deification” is a form of idolatry, a form of idolatry that is as ruinous as it is absurd.
MICHAEL SCANLON
East Hartford, Connecticut
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